These Days Soap Wiki
'' These Days (commonly 'TDS') is an urban and darkly emotional serial drama produced by ''Noxy Productions and published on the creative writing forum Writers Express. It is set in and around two fictitious Leicester suburbs: the urban Newben and the more widely featured suburban town of Middlehampton. This is the second online incarnation of the project, and began on 1st February 2015. The original version of the show ran from 14th November 2011-29th September 2014, though it wasn't officially cancelled until 1st December 2014. Now known as 'These Days 1.0', it is the most successful project ever on the Writers Express. A critical success from the outset, These Days 1.0 scooped a record 40 WRIXAS (Writers Express Awards) in total, including 'Best Soap' (or similar accolade) eight consecutive times. It was also named 'Best Project' at WRIXAS 8 in September 2014. In spite of this success, creator and writer Noxy felt she had taken 1.0 as far as it could go, and a new version of the project was officially announced on 5th January 2015. Like its predecessor, it is initially set in the near future, but once it catches up, it will fall behind real time, and so will essentially be set in the past. In TDS time, the show airs three days a week - on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays - since the 1st September 2015. However in real time, TDS airs weekly episodes on Sundays since 1st February 2015. In addition to this, a 'Midweek Features' thread publishes since 9th January 2015. In real time however, the project is currently on a 'flexischedule', meaning there is no fixed pattern of publishing. However, when it is posted, this is currently on a Saturday. As of 11th April 2015 in real time (16th September 2015 in TDS time), there have been 8 episodes of the project to date. Title Card The background image is an aerial view of Leicester city centre. The logo is placed in the south-east of the card and the view over Leicester is south-easterly. This represents the south-eastern location of Leicester in the East Midlands. The title's colours, red and white, represent the English flag. It's brown, grey and orange hues are said to give it an urban look, as well as a hint of warmth. In contrast to version 1.0s title cards, there is no trace of blue. Premise These Days is set across two fictional, neighbouring Leicester suburbs: the urban Newben, and the suburban and more wideley used Middlehampton. There are several distinctive landmarks in the show which are instantly familiar to fans. These include the following: *''Doyle's'' - a local cafe run by proprietor Liz Doyle *''Petrol station'' - run by manager Lee Rogers; adjacent to the garage *''The garage'' - owned and run by mechanic Jack Mason; adjacent to the petrol station *''Fabulous! - a women-only salon run by owners and friends Lisa Wright and Jason Warren *''Hotel Republic - a chain hotel. Deputy manager Stephen Chapman currently running it following the death of manager Max Marshall *''Restaurant Republic'' - hotel restaurant run by an offscreen manager *''The Moonshine Inn'' - a pub run by the Donnelly parents, Maxine and Phil. Their teenage children Noah and Carrie live there. Owned by James Warren *''Linford Park'' - a public park somewhere in Middlehampton *''Linford High'' - a local secondary school which Danielle Harvey attends as a Year 11 student *''Newben College ''- a tertiary education facility with Liam Hardacre, Carrie Donnelly, Tegan Wykin and Spike Cooper as students *''Rendezvous'' - a small student cafe within the college *''Sanco's'' - a rarely seen but occasionally mentioned fictional supermarket. 'Sanco' is a portmanteau of Sainsbury and Tesco *''Leicester St. Mary's - a fictional hospital. Nursing students (and friends) Rosy Lyons and Keeley Thompson work there *''The Archers - an alternative but unseen pub to The Moonshine Inn Formation, Style and Original Demise 'These Days' was first conceived as an idea in the autumn of 2001. Creator Noxy has said she was inspired by ITV soaps Crossroads (2001-03) and Night And Day (2001-3), and has also sighted Australian soaps Neighbours and Home And Away as influences, stating that TDS has 'the warmth and family feel' of Neighbours mixed with 'the edge and vibrancy' of Home And Away. Australian soaps also influence the style of TDS in several ways: *Every episode begins with a recap of the previous episode; this is standard practice for Australian soaps but not British ones *Inbetween scene changeovers, sets are used as breakbumpers, especially when in the context of what is coming up. For example, one scene ends, then a breakbumper briefly shows the Newben College set - which means the next scene will happen at'' 'Newben College'' etc.'' *A 'filmic' look is used for TDS, unlike major British soaps which use standard filming *TDS has a mixture of working class and middle class characters and values, as opposed to most British soaps which tend to focus on only the working class Another somewhat unconventional trait of the show is its broad setting. Unlike British soaps, which are almost invariably set on one street, cul-de-sac or relatively small area (e.g. a village), TDS is spread across two fictional Leicester suburbs, and makes regular use of several external sets, including a hotel, a petrol station and a public park. These types of set are atypical in British soaps. Noxy described naming the show as difficult, admitting that she went through several titles, but instinctively felt that 'These Days' was the 'right' title and 'had a ring to it'. Noxy began writing 'These Days' toward the end of 2001. She had written 9 episodes before launching it, but then suddenly stopped, feeling they were not of a high enough standard. The show then restarted a few weeks later, running for 12 months across the whole of 2002. In 2005 a second series began, set three years after the original, and this continued in sporadic installments all the way up to 2009, when the show stalled at around Episode 210. Noxy stopped writing the show as she felt it had 'stalled' and had lost direction and purpose. As such, it was abandoned indefinitely. First Revival In August 2011, Noxy joined a creative writing website called Writers Express, which she would later own and run. In November 2011, a revamped and modernised version of These Days began. It was largely unchanged from the original until around Episode 40, but gradually the material became increasingly and then predominantly original. The project was critically acclaimed from the outset, and won 40 WRIXAS (Writers Express Awards) in total, more than any other project in the forum's history to date. It was also the first project ever to acquire 40 WRIXAS. On the 31st August 2014, it was named Best Soap for the eighth consecutive time. The full list of accolades includes: *'''BEST SOAP (eight times in a row) *'BEST (SOAP) EPISODE '(6 times) - 27/1.27, 75/1.75, 100/2.16, 131/2.47, 144/2.60 & 164/2.80 *'BEST CAMEO, NEWCOMER OR RETURNEE' (5 times) - Ben Warren (Newcomer), Hannah Cartwright (Newcomer), Sabrina Patel (Newcomer), Rosy Lyons (Returnee) & Connor Mason (Newcomer) *'BEST SOAP FEMALE' (four times) - Lisa Hopkins (twice), Rosy Lyons & Joss Wykin *'BEST SOAP SCENE' (four times) - Steven & Ricki's Bittersweet Airport Goodbye (75/1.75), Rachel Hornby's Death (84/1.84), Holly Wainwright's Death (131/2.47) & Bezza Shot Dead By An Unknown Assailant (164/2.80) *'BEST EXIT' (thrice) - Sarah Reuban, Ben Warren & Bezza *'BEST SOAP MALE' (thrice) - Glen Wright & Ben Warren (twice-in-a-row) *'BEST SOAP PLOT' - Ben Warren's Fatal Meltdown, Spikegate & Who Shot Bezza? *'BEST PROJECT' (first project to win this new award) *'BEST RELATIONSHIP' - Glisa (Glen & Lisa) *'BEST SHOCK' - Ben Hastens Rosemary's Death With A Heart Attack However, on 29th September 2014, Episode 173 was published. It was announced on the 1st December 2014 that this was to be the last ever episode of this version, and the project formally ended. Shortly after, it was hinted that the show would return, but restarted and refreshed for a new modern era. Second Revival On the 5th January 2015, an official article was published giving an insight into the new version. It began on the 1st February and airs every Sunday. Changes from the First Revival Noxy Productions do not wish to give away too much about the changes made to the project, but below is a non-exhaustive list of changes: *Lisa Hopkins is now known as Lisa Wright, her married name. This is to give the complex family she comes from the umbrella name 'the Wright family' *Lisa now runs a salon called Fabulous! ''alongside her gay best friend '''Jason Warren'. Neither Fabulous! or Jason previously existed. There will be no modelling agency in this version *''The Moonshine Inn'' pub was previously owned and run by James Warren, and was introduced halfway through the first series. In the second revival, the pub is owned by James, a recurring character, but run by the Donnelly parents Maxine and Phil. It appears from the outset *'Lee Rogers' no longer runs a newsagent's, but a'' petrol station''. This petrol station is adjacent to the garage *''Newben General Hospital'' is now known as Leicester St. Mary's *In the first revivial, the Blue Royale hotel later became Hotel Republic. However, it is now called'' Hotel Republic'' from the outset. Originally, Ricki Wells ran it with an iron fist. Now, Ricki - now known as Ricki Marshall - is drafted in as a new manager; partly because of the sudden death of the hotel's previous manager (and Ricki's father-in-law) Max Marshall; and partly because the hotel has just been downgraded from four star to three star. Alarmed by this, CEO Bob Emerald drafts in Ricki - a tough but efficient operator with an excellent track record - to 'turn it around' *'Woody' - AKA Paul Woodley - is a new character at the hotel, a Brummie playing the role of assistant chef in the unseen hotel restaurant *'Anita Johnson' - previously a model but later a barmaid - is now a barmaid from the outset *''Doyle's'', the show's famous eatery, has been scaled down from a restaurant to a café *Other changes will be announced in due course Episode Recaps A synopsis of the main stories in each episode will be published after the next episode has aired (for example, a recap for Episode 1 was published when Episode 2 went to air etc.). To read these, simply click on any of the links listed below: *'These Days: Recaps (Episode 1-10)' Current Cast Cast Changes Past Cast Complete Cast Category:Browse